100 Creatives: Kerry Beyer

What he does: Kerry Beyer is an award-winning photographer and filmmaker and co-founder of SplatterFest and a filmmaker-friendly distribution company called LumaVault.com. His work has appeared in Vogue, Lucky, Allure, the New York Times and more. He is winner of the Slamdance Anarchy Film Showcase and a Semi-Finalist in the Nicholl Fellowships in screenwriting. His first feature film, the cheerleader/slasher mash-up Spirit Camp, is available on DVD.

Beyer is a visual artist and a storyteller, doing everything from photography to commercial and film production, graphic design and visual FX. His clients range from actors, models, lawyers, real estate agents (or anyone who needs PR photos) up to Fortune 500 companies needing a commercial, infomercial, or ad campaign.

SplatterFest, which Beyer co-founded with Kelly Burns Smith, is a short film competition where filmmakers have one weekend to write, shoot and edit a horror short. Beyer gives them a murder weapon, a line of dialogue and character, and the result is a macabre collection of mass murder. Last year, 250 filmmakers were involved, and the shorts were screened at two sold-out shows at the Alamo Drafthouse West Oaks. All the shorts are currently available on DVD at splatterfest.com, where you can also find info about this year's competition.

Why he likes it: Beyer enjoys taking a crazy idea and bringing it to the image stage. "With technology the way it is today, you really are only limited by your creativity. Whatever you dream up you can do, if you are willing to put the work into it," he says.

What inspires him: "Everything can be a source of inspiration... movies, images, music, nature, a conversation, a good day, a bad day... I think the key is to take the things life gives you and turn them into something unique and meaningful to you," he says.

If not this, then what? "I'd be a rock star, of course."

His proudest moment: Beyer says Spirit Camp was the most challenging thing he's ever done, as well as the most rewarding, and screening it in front of a sold-out audience was thrilling. "We all put blood, sweat and tears into it, and it was just an amazing experience to have this group of people come together and make this 'thing' that started as nothing more than a crazy idea in my head."

Spirit Camp opening scene

Spirit Camp trailer

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